Social Data Overlay

ABSTRACT

In particular embodiments, a method comprising, by one or more computing devices, identifying, at a client device, one or more objects or references to the one or more objects embedded in a structured document displayed to a first user, accessing a social graph to determine if one or more second users having an association with the first user have accessed any of the one or more identified objects, and modifying, for at least one of the one or more identified objects, the structured document displayed to the first user to indicate that the at least one or more identified objects has been accessed by one or more second users.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/116,923, filed 26 May 2011.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to social networking systems,and more specifically relates to accessing social networking systems toenhance browsing activities in connection with third party websites.

BACKGROUND

A social network, in general, is a social structure made up of entities,such as individuals or organizations, that are connected by one or moretypes of interdependency or relationships, such as friendship, kinship,common interest, financial exchange, dislike, or relationships ofbeliefs, knowledge, or prestige. In more recent years, social networkshave taken advantage of the Internet. There are social-networkingsystems existing on the Internet in the form of social-networkingwebsites. A social networking system, such as a social networkingwebsite, enables its users to interact with it and with each otherthrough the system.

The social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a user profile, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include a user's demographic information, communicationchannel information, and personal interests. The social networkingsystem may also create and store a record of a user's relationship withother users in the social networking system (e.g., social graph), aswell as provide services (e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, or instantmessaging) to facilitate social interaction between users in the socialnetworking system. The social networking system may also create andstore user preferences.

A social networking system may support application programminginterfaces and associated functionality that allows third-party systemsto access user profile data of its users. Such third party websites canuse the user profile data can use the identity and account of a user forpurposes of identifying users and maintaining their accounts at suchthird party websites. These third party websites may also access userprofile data in order to personalize or customize the user experience onthe site.

SUMMARY OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure generally relates to social networking systems,and more specifically relates to accessing social networking systemsthrough third party websites.

In particular embodiments, a method comprising, by one or more computingdevices, identifying, at a client device, one or more objects orreferences to the one or more objects embedded in a structured documentdisplayed to a first user, accessing a social graph to determine if oneor more second users having an association with the first user haveaccessed any of the one or more identified objects, and modifying, forat least one of the one or more identified objects, the structureddocument displayed to the first user to indicate that the at least oneor more identified objects has been accessed by one or more secondusers.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the disclosure aredescribed in more detail below in the detailed description and inconjunction with the following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart diagram that illustrates a method.

FIG. 3 a illustrates an example displayed structured document.

FIG. 3 b illustrates a second example displayed structured document.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure is now described in detail with reference to afew embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Inthe following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure.However, the present disclosure may be practiced without some or all ofthese specific details. In other instances, well known process stepsand/or structures have not been described in detail in order not tounnecessarily obscure the present disclosure. In addition, while thedisclosure is described in conjunction with the particular embodiments,it should be understood that this description is not intended to limitthe disclosure to the described embodiments. To the contrary, thedescription is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, andequivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of thedisclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Social Network Systems and Accessible User Profile Data

A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enablesits users to interact with it, and with each other, through the system.Typically, to become a registered user of a social networking system, anentity, either human or non-human, registers for an account with thesocial networking system. Thereafter, the registered user may login tothe social networking system via an account by providing, for example, acorrect login ID or username and password. As used herein, a “user” maybe an individual (human user), an entity (e.g., an enterprise, business,or third party application), or a group (e.g., of individuals orentities) that interacts or communicates with or over such a socialnetwork environment.

When a user registers for an account with a social networking system,the social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a “user profile,” in connection with the user. The userprofile may include information provided by the user and informationgathered by various systems, including the social networking system,relating to activities or actions of the user. For example, the user mayprovide his name, profile picture, contact information, birth date,gender, marital status, family status, employment, education background,preferences, interests, and other demographical information to beincluded in his user profile. The user may identify other users of thesocial networking system that the user considers to be his friends. Alist of the user's friends or first degree contacts may be included inthe user's profile. Connections in social networking systems may be inboth directions or may be in just one direction. For example, if Bob andJoe are both users and connect with each another, Bob and Joe are eachconnections of the other. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes to connectto Sam to view Sam's posted content items, but Sam does not choose toconnect to Bob, a one-way connection may be formed where Sam is Bob'sconnection, but Bob is not Sam's connection. Some embodiments of asocial networking system allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections (e.g., friends of friends). Connections maybe added explicitly by a user, for example, the user selecting aparticular other user to be a friend, or automatically created by thesocial networking system based on common characteristics of the users(e.g., users who are alumni of the same educational institution). Theuser may identify or bookmark websites or web pages he visits frequentlyand these websites or web pages may be included in the user's profile.

The user may provide information relating to various aspects of the user(such as contact information and interests) at the time the userregisters for an account or at a later time. The user may also updatehis or her profile information at any time. For example, when the usermoves, or changes a phone number, he may update his contact information.Additionally, the user's interests may change as time passes, and theuser may update his interests in his profile from time to time. A user'sactivities on the social networking system, such as frequency ofaccessing particular information on the system, may also provideinformation that may be included in the user's profile. Again, suchinformation may be updated from time to time to reflect the user'smost-recent activities. Still further, other users or so-called friendsor contacts of the user may also perform activities that affect or causeupdates to a user's profile. For example, a contact may add the user asa friend (or remove the user as a friend). A contact may also writemessages to the user's profile pages—typically known as wall-posts. Auser may also input status messages that get posted to the user'sprofile page.

A social network system may maintain social graph information, which cangenerally model the relationships among groups of individuals, and mayinclude relationships ranging from casual acquaintances to closefamilial bonds. A social network may be represented using a graphstructure. Each node of the graph corresponds to a member of the socialnetwork. Edges connecting two nodes represent a relationship between twousers. In addition, the degree of separation between any two nodes isdefined as the minimum number of hops required to traverse the graphfrom one node to the other. A degree of separation between two users canbe considered a measure of relatedness between the two users representedby the nodes in the graph.

In particular embodiments, an edge may be one of a plurality of edgetypes based at least in part on the types of nodes that the edgeconnects in the social graph. In particular embodiments, for example,each edge from a first edge type defines a connection between a pair ofuser nodes from the first set, while each edge from a second edge typedefines a connection between a user node from the first set and aconcept node from the second set. Furthermore, each edge from a thirdedge type may define a connection between a pair of concept nodes fromthe second set. In particular embodiments, the edge itself may store, orbe stored with, data that defines a type of connection between the pairof nodes the edge connects. In particular embodiments, each edge maysimply define or represent a connection between nodes regardless of thetypes of nodes the edge connects; that is, the edge itself may store, orbe stored with, identifiers of the nodes the edge connects but may notstore, or be stored with, data that describes a type of connectionbetween the pair of nodes the edge connects. Furthermore, in any ofthese or other particular embodiments, data that may indicate the typeof connection or relationship between nodes connected by an edge may bestored with the nodes themselves. Additional information on automaticedge generation in an integrated social graph is described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/763,145, which is incorporated byreference herein for all purposes.

Similar to user profile pages, concept profile pages (“hubs”) shareinformation related to the concept associated with the corresponding hubnode. In particular embodiments, any registered user logged in to socialnetworking system and viewing a hub may add content to the hub similarto a wiki-site. A hub may also generally include a basic informationsection, a detailed info section, as well as, potentially, othersections, any and all of which may generally be filled in by any userviewing the hub. In particular embodiments, wall (or newsfeed/activities feed) section, or other feed or activities section ofthe hub, displays comments, status updates, wall posts and other useractivities associated with the user and friends of the user that areviewing the hub. The wall (or news feed/activities feed) section, orother feed or activities section of the hub may also display comments,status updates, wall posts and other user activities and user generatedcontent that are related to the concept for which the hub was created. Ahub may also include a photo or picture section under photos taballowing users to upload images in or related to the concept, one ofwhich may be selected as a profile picture for the hub.

In particular embodiments, user nodes and hub nodes stored in the socialgraph database may be connected with one another via edges. Inparticular embodiments, each edge may be classified or characterized byan edge type of a plurality of edge types that define, indicate, orcharacterize the connection between the pair of nodes connected by theedge. In particular embodiments, edges define friendship or other socialrelationship connections between users (e.g., friends) associated withthe respective user nodes.

A social networking system may support a variety of applications, suchas photo sharing, on-line calendars, search, events, and location-basedservices. For example, the social networking system may allow users topost photographs and other multimedia files to a user's profile, such asin a wall post or in a photo album, both of which may be accessible toother users of the social networking system. Social networking systemmay also allow users to configure events. For example, a first user mayconfigure an event with attributes including time and date of the event,location of the event and other users invited to the event. The invitedusers may receive invitations to the event and respond (such as byaccepting the invitation or declining it). Furthermore, socialnetworking system may allow users to maintain a personal calendar.Similarly to events, the calendar entries may include times, dates,locations and identities of other users.

The social networking system may also support a privacy model. A usermay or may not wish to share his information with other users orthird-party applications, or a user may wish to share his informationonly with specific users or third-party applications. A user may controlwhether his information is shared with other users or third-partyapplications through privacy settings associated with his user profile.For example, a user may select a privacy setting for each user datumassociated with the user and/or select settings that apply globally orto categories or types of user profile information. A privacy settingdefines, or identifies, the set of entities (e.g., other users,connections of the user, friends of friends, or third party application)that may have access to the user datum. The privacy setting may bespecified on various levels of granularity, such as by specifyingparticular entities in the social network (e.g., other users),predefined groups of the user's connections, a particular type ofconnections, all of the user's connections, all first-degree connectionsof the user's connections, the entire social network, or even the entireInternet (e.g., to make the posted content item index-able andsearchable on the Internet). A user may choose a default privacy settingfor all user data that is to be posted. Additionally, a user mayspecifically exclude certain entities from viewing a user datum or aparticular type of user data.

FIG. 1 illustrates a particular embodiment of a system that includes aclient device 110, an external website 120, and a social networkingsystem 130. In particular embodiments, links 150 illustrate interactionsbetween client device 110 and external website 120, between clientdevice 110 and social networking system 130, and between externalwebsite 120 and social networking system 130.

Client device 110 is generally a computer or computing device includingfunctionality for communicating over a computer network(e.g., remotely).Client device 110 may be a desktop computer, laptop computer, personaldigital assistant (PDA), in- or out-of-car navigation system, smartphone or other cellular or mobile phone, or mobile gaming device, amongother suitable mobile computing devices. Client device 110 may executeone or more client applications, such as a web browser (e.g., MicrosoftWindows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome,and Opera, etc.), to access and view content over a computer network.

In particular embodiments, client device 110 may host a browserapplication 112 or other application that processes structureddocuments. In particular embodiments, client device 110 may havereceived one or more structured documents from external website 120and/or social networking system 130. In particular embodiments, thestructured document may be a markup language document that containstext, links, scripts, and other attributes, such as API callsidentifying social network data elements of a user profile maintained bysocial networking system 130. In particular embodiments, the structureddocument may contain instructions, for example, to specify how to rendercontent for display at client device 110. In particular embodiments, thestructured document may contain instructions, for example, on how toaccess additional information from social networking system 130.Alternatively, the instructions within structured document may containprogram logic interpreted by a scripting engine 116 on the client device110.

In particular embodiments, browser application 112 may process themarkup language in the structured document and render the structureddocument as a displayable web page. In particular embodiments, thedisplayable web page may include content of the external website 120 aswell as one or more of the located social network data elements of thesocial networking system 130. In particular embodiments, browserapplication 112 may display the rendered web page on a display of clientdevice 110. For example, a structured document hosted by externalwebsite 120 may contain an API call for a profile picture of a user. Thebrowser application 112, when processing the structured document, maytransmit a request to social networking system 130 to retrieve theuser's profile picture. The request may be an HTTP request and mayfurther include a browser cookie with information identifying the userof social networking system 130. The browser cookie may include stateand other information indicating the status of the user, for example,whether the user has recently logged in and/or authenticated to thesocial networking system 130. Still further, the structured documentprovided by external website 120 may include a segment (such as a div oriframe) that prompts the user to log in to social network system 130.For example, the structured document may include HTML code, Javascriptand other controls that cause the browser hosted by client device 110 toaccess social networking system 130 and render a login interface in asection of the displayed structured document.

In particular embodiments, external website 120 may be any websiteaccessible on the Internet, and may have various formats, such as, forexample and without limitation, text, audio, video, images, web pages,documents, executables, etc. Examples of external website 120 thatprovides audio content includes, but is not limited to, Pandora(http://www.pandora.com), or Rhapsody (http://www.rhapsody.com), etc.Examples of external website 120 that provide video or other contentinclude, but are not limited to, Hulu (http://www.hulu.com), YouTube(http://www.youtube.com), or The New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com), etc. In particular embodiments, externalwebsite 120 and its contents may be stored at many different sites, suchas on computers and servers, in databases, etc., around the world. Thesedifferent sites are communicatively linked to the Internet throughvarious network infrastructures and the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)of external website 120 specifies where the corresponding document islocated and the mechanism for retrieving it. Any person may access thepublicly available external website 120 or its contents via a suitablenetwork device (e.g., a computer, a smart mobile telephone, etc.)connected to the Internet.

In particular embodiments external website 120 and social networkingsystem 130 may have one or more users or members. In particularembodiments, users of external website 120 may also be users of socialnetworking system 130. In particular embodiments, a user may interactwith external website 120 and/or the social networking system 130 usingclient device 110. In particular embodiments, the social networkingsystem 130 may keep user profile information and the connections amongthe users.

In particular embodiments, the social networking system 130 may receiverequests from either the external website 120 or the client device 110to which the social networking system 130 may respond with the requestedinformation or with a subset of the requested information. Particularinteractions between client device 110, the external website 120, andthe social networking system 130 and information exchanged between thethree systems will be described later in detail. As discussed in moredetail below, implementations of the invention include augmentedclient-side functionality directed to informing the user as to whichsocial network data elements of the user the external website 120desires access and allows the user to control such access consistentwith his or her privacy configurations.

In particular embodiments, social networking system 130 may include aweb server 131, an authorization server 132, an action logger 134, anaction log 135, a connection database 133, a privacy controls database136, and member profile database 137. In particular embodiments, socialnetworking system 130 may include additional, fewer, or differentmodules for various applications. Conventional components such asnetwork interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failoverservers, management and network operations consoles, and the like arenot shown so as to not obscure the details of the system. In particularembodiments, the social networking system 130 comprises a computingsystem that allows users to communicate or otherwise interact with eachother and access content as described herein.

In particular embodiments, the social networking system 130 stores userprofile data and social graph information in member profile database137. In particular embodiments, the social networking system 130 storesdata describing one or more connections between different users in theconnection database 133. Particular embodiments of the connectiondatabase 133 may store connection information for users who haveindicated similar or common work experience, group memberships, hobbies,or educational history. In particular embodiments, the social networkingsystem 130 may also include user-defined connections between differentusers and those connections may be stored in connection database 133 aswell. Particular embodiments of connection database 135 may allow usersto specify their relationships with other users. In particularembodiments, for example, these user defined connections allows users togenerate relationships with other users that parallel the users'real-life relationships, such as friends, relatives, co-workers,partners, and so forth. In particular embodiments, users may select frompredefined types of connections, or define their own connection types,as needed.

In particular embodiments, the web server 131 links the socialnetworking system 130 via the network 140 to one or more client devices110. Network 140 generally represents a network or collection ofnetworks (such as the Internet or a corporate intranet, or a combinationof both) over which client devices 110 may access the external website120 and the social network system 130. In particular embodiments, theweb server 131 serves web pages, as well as other web-related content,such as Java, Flash, XML, and so forth. Particular embodiments of theweb server 131 may include a mail server or other messagingfunctionality for receiving and routing messages between the socialnetworking system 131 and the client devices 110. In particularembodiments, the messages may be instant messages, queued messages(e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or any other suitable messagingtechnique.

In particular embodiments, the action logger 134 is capable of receivingcommunications from the web server 131 about user actions on and/or offthe social networking system 130. In particular embodiments, the actionlogger 134 populates the action log 135 with information about useractions in order to track them. More specifically, any action that aparticular user takes with respect to another user is associated witheach user's profile through information maintained in a database orother data repository, such as the action log 135. In particularembodiments, the actions taken by the members that are recorded in theaction log 135 may be actions taken by the members on the socialnetworking system 130 or actions taken by the members on the externalwebsite 120. In particular embodiments, the actions taken by the memberson an external website 120 are communicated to the web server 131 andthe web server 131 sends a request to the action logger 134 to recordthe actions in the action log 135. In particular embodiments, suchactions may include, for example, adding a connection to the other user,sending a message to the other user, reading a message from the otheruser, viewing content associated with the other user, attending an eventposted by another user, among others. Additionally, in particularembodiments, actions in connection with other objects may be directed atparticular users, and these actions may be associated with those usersas well.

In particular embodiments, when a user takes an action on the socialnetworking system 130, the action is recorded in an action log 135. Inparticular embodiments, the social networking system 130 maintains theaction log 135 as a database of entries. In particular embodiments, whenan action is taken on the social networking system 130, the socialnetworking system 130 adds an entry for that action to the action log135.

In particular embodiments, a user of the social networking system mayshare media hosted by external websites with the social networkingsystem and this action may be received by action logger 134 and storedin action log 135. In particular embodiments, external websites may have“share” buttons that are operative to transmit links to the content tothe social networking system and post the links as wall post entries fora user profile. In particular embodiments, the buttons are operative totransmit activity stream entries to the social networking system, whichwill post the entry in a news feed. In particular embodiments, forexample, a user can access a photo, a photo album, a video clip, orother media from a client device 110 and post links to that content onthe wall associated with a user profile on social networking system.

In particular embodiments, privacy controls database 136 may store auser's privacy data for a user's settings for each user datum associatedwith the user and the user's settings for third party applications. Forexample, a user may have selected default privacy settings or a user mayhave specifically excluded certain entities from viewing a user datum orparticular type of user data, and all of that privacy data for all usersand friends of users may be stored in the privacy controls database 136.

In particular embodiments, a user's privacy data may comprise privacysettings associated with any aspect of the user profile, includingchanges that the user makes to the user profile, events, locations,media, activities, connections between one or more users, the news feedassociated with the user or any other action that the user takes in thesocial networking system. In particular embodiments, the privacysettings associated with the privacy controls database 136 may beprovided and stored at different levels of granularity. In particularembodiments, for example, the information to be shared may be specificinformation, such as, work phone number, or a set of relatedinformation, such as, personal information including several pieces ofrelated information including profile photo, home phone number, andstatus. Alternatively, in particular embodiments, the privacy settingsassociated with the privacy controls database 136 may apply to all theinformation associated with the user in the social networking system.

In particular embodiments, the specification of the set of entities thatmay access particular user information may also be specified at variouslevels of granularity. In particular embodiments, the user may specifyany number of entities with which information may be shared. Inparticular embodiments, sets of entities with which information may beshared may include, for example, specified friends of the user, allfriends of the user, all friends of friends, all applications, and allexternal systems. In particular embodiments, for example, the user mayprovide a list of external systems that may access certain informationas well.

Particular embodiments may specify a set of entities that includesexceptions that are not allowed to access the user's information. Inparticular embodiments, for example, the user of the social networkingsystem may allow all external systems to access the user's workinformation but specify a list of external systems that are not allowedto access the work information. In particular embodiments, the list ofexceptions that are not allowed to access certain information of theuser may be a “block list.” In particular embodiments, external systemsbelonging to a block list specified by a user of the social networkingsystem are blocked from accessing the information specified in theprivacy setting stored in privacy controls database 136. Particularembodiments contemplate various combinations of granularity of permittedaccess or denial of access depending on the type of user information andsets of entities with which information may be shared or accessed by thesets of entities, as specified by the user and stored in the privacycontrols database 136.

In particular embodiments, the authorization server 132 enforces theprivacy settings of the users of the social networking system, such asdescribed above with respect to the privacy policy. In particularembodiments, the privacy setting of a user determines how particularinformation associated with a user may be shared. In particularembodiments, as described above, the privacy controls database 136comprises the privacy data for a user's settings for each user datumassociated with the user and the user's settings for third partyapplications. More specifically, the privacy data for a user's settingsmay specify particular information associated with a user and the entityor entities with whom the information may be shared. In particularembodiments, the entities with which information may be shared, mayinclude users, third party applications, external websites, or any otherentity that can potentially access the information. In particularembodiments, the information that may be shared by a user may compriseany aspect of the user profile, events, locations, media, activities, orthe news feed associated with the user.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b illustrate an example external website 300. Inparticular embodiments example external website 300 may comprise one ormore structured documents 310, and within the structured document 310,there may be one or more objects 312, 314, 316. Typically, to render awebpage associated with a web application, the web application and/orweb browser at a client device requires access to one or more resourcesprovided at one or more backend servers of an associated website. Aresource or webpage, which may itself include multiple embeddedresources, may include data records, such as content plain textualinformation, or more complex digitally encoded multimedia content, suchas software programs or other code objects, graphics, images, audiosignals, videos, and so forth. One prevalent markup language forcreating web pages is the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Other commonweb browser-supported languages and technologies include the ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML), the Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML),JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and, frequently, Java.

In particular embodiments, HTML may enable a page developer to create astructured document by denoting structural semantics for text and links,as well as images, web applications and other objects that can beembedded within the page. Generally, a web page may be delivered to aclient as a static document, however, through the use of web elementsembedded in the page, an interactive experience may be achieved with thepage or a sequence of pages. The web browser obtains the requiredresources (e.g., in response to executing JavaScripts or other callsembedded in a requested and received structured document and which mayinclude HTML or XML code and/or JavaScript scripts and/or contentincluding text, audio, and video) for rendering the webpage from one ormore servers and then constructs a browser representation of thewebpage. In particular embodiments, the browser processes the structureddocument and creates an in-memory representation of the document. Therepresentation may be a Document Object Model (DOM) representation ofthe webpage. The web browser then renders the page in the particularclient viewing window of the browser utilizing the DOM (or othersuitable) representation.

Typically, a web browser is used to access a webpage (or otherstructured document) for rendering at a client device. A web browserapplication is generally a computer program configured to run on auser's computing device (e.g., client device 110) that enables the userto connect to various server-hosted webpages available over a network. Anon-exhaustive set of common web browsers include, by way of example,Internet Explorer™, Firefox™, Safari™, and Opera™. The web browserprovides a standard viewing window that displays the informational andvisual content of the webpage or website (the term “website” and“webpage” may be used interchangeably herein where appropriate). The URLof the website presently being rendered and viewed is displayed in theaddress box of the web browser GUI. The address box enables a user toinput an address (e.g., a URL) for a desired (target) webpage. Thecontent of the website generally includes graphical images, text, and/orhyperlinks (e.g., comprising code segments that redirect the web browserand user to another portion of the webpage or to a subsequent webpagealtogether without requiring manual input of the subsequent webpage'saddress). In various example embodiments, the webpage can also includeaudio, video, and other types of web content. To facilitate navigationof the rendered page, the web browser GUI may include scrolling bars orbuttons. By clicking and/or dragging these bars or buttons, a user mayselectively view other portions of the webpage, which do not entirelyfit the immediately viewable areas of the GUI rendered by the webbrowser.

Particular embodiments relate to a plug-in software application(hereinafter referred to as “social enhancement application”) thatoperates or executes in the context of a browser (e.g., a web browser)or other application client that consumes structured documents. In otherimplementations, the functionality described herein can be incorporateddirectly into a browser client application, as opposed to being aplug-in.

Social Network Overlay on an External Website

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method of modifying a structured documentto display social network data for other users who have accessed andinteracted with the displayed structured document. In particularembodiments, the browser or plug-in records all click-stream activityfor all users that have interacted with objects and references of thedisplayed structured document and transmits data representing theclick-stream activity to the social networking system. In particularembodiments, the browser or plug-in then queries the social networkingsystem based on the references and objects identified in the page, andmodifies the page to indicate which friends have viewed or accessed theobject. In particular embodiments, modifications may be, but not by wayof limitation, displaying profile pictures of second users that haveinteracted with the object when the first user mouses-over a link to theobject, and changing the color, font-type, size, or style of thedisplayed object, and so forth.

Particular embodiments identify, at a client device, one or more objectsor references to the one or more objects embedded in a structureddocument displayed to a first user, as illustrated in step 210. Asdescribed above, when a structured document is requested having HTML orother markup language content, such as objects or references within astructured document, it is received by the web browser in order toprocess the page so that the web browser may render and display thewebpage. Typically, the application and/or web browser at a clientdevice requires access to one or more objects or resources provided atone or more backend servers of the website. In particular embodiments,the objects or references that are displayed to the first user areidentified.

Particular embodiments access a social graph to determine if one or moresecond users having an association with the first user have accessed anyof the one or more identified objects, as illustrated in step 220. Asdescribed above, social graph information is maintained by a socialnetworking system. In particular embodiments, associations between thefirst user and any one or more second users may be represented by one ormore edges and nodes within the social graph, as described above. Inparticular embodiments, a first user may have an association with asecond user if an edge exists between them in the social graph. Inparticular embodiments, if any one or more of the associated secondusers have accessed any of the one or more identified objects, therewill also be edges between the second users and those objects.

Particular embodiments generate data indicating an edge relationshipfrom the first object and the user responsive to any detected userinteraction by a user with any object of the structured document. Inparticular embodiments, objects may have an edge type, as describedabove. In particular embodiments, the data stored in the social graphmay be a list of URLs that a user has accessed. In particularembodiments, interactions may be past or current user interactions withobjects or references in the displayed structured document.

Particular embodiments transmit the recorded data from all users to thesocial networking system where the data is stored within the socialgraph. In particular embodiments, the browser or plug-in records allclick-stream activity for all users that have interacted with objectsand references of the displayed structured document and transmits datarepresenting the click-stream activity to the social networking systemwhere it is stored within the social graph. In particular embodiments,the data structure in the back end would store an index of URL or objectidentifiers and UserIDs.

In particular embodiments, the browser or plug-in queries the socialnetworking system and accesses the social graph data to determine if anysecond users having an association with the first user in the socialgraph have interacted with objects or references of the displayedstructured document. In particular embodiments, the browser or plug-inwould query URLs or other object or references in the structureddocument that have been accessed, look up the user IDs for the secondusers that have accessed the URLs or other objects or references in thestructured document, and then use the first user's user ID to compare tothe set of second users that have accessed URLs or other objects orreferences in the structured document. In particular embodiments, ifthere are no second users having an association with the first user inthe social graph that have interacted with objects or references of thedisplayed structured document, then a set of aggregate interactionstatistics for all other users may be displayed.

In particular embodiments, for example, if any one of the one or moresecond users have read an article on http://www.nytimes.com, there willbe a read edge between the second user and the article that istransmitted to the social network system and stored within the socialgraph. In particular embodiments, when the browser queries the socialnetworking system for second users having an association with the firstuser, it may use the URL of the article as well as the UserID of thesecond users when comparing to the UserID of the first user. Inparticular embodiments, the second user may be any one of the firstuser's first (and possibly second degree) contacts or associations.Still further, for example, if any one of the one or more second usershave read and “liked” the article, there will be both a read and a“like” edge associated with the second user and that article. Inparticular embodiments, if no users have a first, second degree, or anyassociation with the first user, then the aggregate statistics may bethat “1,200 people have watched this,” and these aggregate statisticsmay be displayed in association with the article.

In particular embodiments, accessing the social graph to determine ifone or more second users having an association with the first user haveaccessed any of the one or more identified objects may be conditioned ona set of user preferences of the first user of the social networkingsystem. In particular embodiments, the user preferences that allow thebrowser or application to access the social graph may be associated withthe privacy settings and other information stored in privacy controlsdatabase 136. In particular embodiments, one or more aspects of theuser's privacy settings may be stored locally (and/or synchronized withprivacy controls database 136) at the browser application in the clientdevice to obviate the need for remote access.

In particular embodiments, as described above with respect to privacycontrols database 136, a user may store privacy settings and may specifyparticular entities, third party applications, or website domains thatmay or may not be allowed to access the user's information in the socialnetworking system. In particular embodiments, the user's privacysettings may grant full access to all third party entities, third partyapplications, or website domains. In particular embodiments, the user'sprivacy settings may restrict specific entities, third partyapplication, or website domains. In particular embodiments, the user'sprivacy settings may limit or grant access to particular types of socialnetwork data. In particular embodiments, the user's privacy settings maygrant access to the user's social network data, but in such a way thatthe user remains anonymous.

In particular embodiments, where the user has no set of preferences forgranting permission to access the social graph, the user may be promptedto login to the social networking system. In particular embodiments,where the user logs into the social networking system, the social graphdata will then be exchanged between social networking system 130 andexternal website 120.

Particular embodiments modify, for at least one of the one or moreidentified objects, the structured document displayed to the first userto indicate that the at least one or more identified objects has beenaccessed by one or more second users, as illustrated in step 220. Inparticular embodiments, the browser modifies the page to indicate whichfriends have viewed or accessed the object based on the references andobjects identified in the page. In particular embodiments, modificationsmay be, but not by way of limitation, displaying profile pictures ofsecond users that have interacted with the object when the first usermouses-over a link to the object, and changing the color, font-type,size, or style of the displayed object, and so forth.

In particular embodiments, in order to modify the structured document,the application accesses the DOM (or other suitable) representation ofthe currently rendered structured document generated by the web browser.In particular embodiments, the application may modify, or cause to bemodified the DOM representation of the target webpage (withoutnecessarily modifying the native HTML or other markup language cone orcontent transmitted to the browser for rendering the target webpage(which is generally stored separately)) to indicate that the objectswithin the structured document have been accessed by one or more secondusers. In particular embodiments, the modified DOM representation maydisplay objects on the structured document as highlighted, colored,bolded, or any other such modification that would indicate that objectshave been accessed by one ore more second users. In particularembodiments, the modified DOM representation may display an overlaypanel or a sidebar that indicates that at least one or more identifiedobjects have been accessed by one or more second users.

In particular embodiments, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 a and 3 b, thedisplay on the example external website 300 may be modified to display astructured document that indicates that at one or more identifiedobjects has been accessed by one or more second users. In particularembodiments, objects 312, 314, 316 may be highlighted, colored, bolded,or any other such modification that would indicate that objects 312,314, 316 have been accessed by one ore more second users. In particularembodiments, objects 312, 314, 316 may have small icons displayed nearthem that indicate that the objects have been accessed by one or moresecond users. In particular embodiments, the display on the externalwebsite itself may be modified. In particular embodiments, themodification may not be revealed until the first user mouses-overobjects 312, 314, 316.

In particular embodiments, the structured document displayed to thefirst user to indicate that the at least one or more identified objectshas been accessed by the one or more second users may display socialnetwork data elements of the one or more second users proximal to theone or more identified objects. In particular embodiments, asillustrated in FIGS. 3 a and 3 b, social network data of the one or moresecond users may be displayed proximal the one or more identifiedobjects of the displayed structured document, such as panel 320 a, 320b. Particular embodiments illustrate that panel 320 a is an overlay ofthe structured document 310, whereas panel 320 b is proximal tostructured document 310. Particular embodiments, in any case,demonstrate that panel 320 a and 320 b are proximal to the one or moreidentified objects.

In particular embodiments, panel 320 a and 320 b may display any socialnetwork data elements of the user profile of each one or more secondusers. As described above, various information is provided by the userwhen registering with the social networking system. In particularembodiments, any profile information associated with each one or moresecond users may be displayed in panel 320 a and 320 b, such as thesecond user's profile picture, contact information, birth date, gender,marital status, family status, employment, educational background,preferences, interests, and other demographical information, includingsocial graph data that the second user has generated as a result ofaccessing or interacting with objects or references of the structureddocument of the external website 300. In particular embodiments, forexample, if a second user associated with the first user had read and“liked” an article at http://www.nytimes.com, then data indicating thatan edge exists between the second user and that article would bedisplayed in panel 320 a and 320 b. Additionally, in particularembodiments, for example, panel 320 a and 320 b may display the seconduser's profile picture and other profile information as well.

Particular embodiments may be implemented on one or more computersystems. FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system 400 that may beused to implement a server. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer systems 400 perform one or more steps of one or more methodsdescribed or illustrated herein. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer systems 400 provide functionality described or illustratedherein. In particular embodiments, software running on one or morecomputer systems 400 performs one or more steps of one or more methodsdescribed or illustrated herein or provides functionality described orillustrated herein. Particular embodiments include one or more portionsof one or more computer systems 400.

This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems400. This disclosure contemplates computer system 400 taking anysuitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation,computer system 400 may be an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip(SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, for example, acomputer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computersystem, a laptop or notebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, amainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a server, or a combination of two or more ofthese. Where appropriate, computer system 400 may include one or morecomputer systems 400; be unitary or distributed; span multiplelocations; span multiple machines; or reside in a cloud, which mayinclude one or more cloud components in one or more networks. Whereappropriate, one or more computer systems 400 may perform withoutsubstantial spatial or temporal limitation one or more steps of one ormore methods described or illustrated herein. As an example and not byway of limitation, one or more computer systems 400 may perform in realtime or in batch mode one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein. One or more computer systems 400 may perform atdifferent times or at different locations one or more steps of one ormore methods described or illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 400 includes a processor 402,memory 404, storage 406, an input/output (I/O) interface 408, acommunication interface 410, and a bus 412. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 402 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 404, or storage 406; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 404, or storage 406. In particular embodiments, processor402 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses.

In particular embodiments, memory 404 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 402 to execute or data for processor 402 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system400 may load instructions from storage 406 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 400) to memory 404. Processor 402may then load the instructions from memory 404 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 402 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 402 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor402 may then write one or more of those results to memory 404. One ormore memory buses (which may each include an address bus and a data bus)may couple processor 402 to memory 404. Bus 412 may include one or morememory buses, as described below. In particular embodiments, one or morememory management units (MMUs) reside between processor 402 and memory404 and facilitate accesses to memory 404 requested by processor 402. Inparticular embodiments, memory 404 includes random access memory (RAM).This RAM may be volatile memory, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, storage 406 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 406may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB)drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 406 may includeremovable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage406 may be internal or external to computer system 400, whereappropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 406 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 406 includesread-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. Thisdisclosure contemplates mass storage 406 taking any suitable physicalform. Storage 406 may include one or more storage control unitsfacilitating communication between processor 402 and storage 406, whereappropriate. Where appropriate, storage 406 may include one or morestorages 406. Although this disclosure describes and illustratesparticular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 408 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 400 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system400 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 400. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 408 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 408 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 402 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 408 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 408, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 410 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 400 and one or more other computer systems 400 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 410 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 410 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 400 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 400 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAXnetwork, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitablewireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computersystem 400 may include any suitable communication interface 410 for anyof these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 410 mayinclude one or more communication interfaces 410, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularcommunication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitablecommunication interface.

In particular embodiments, bus 412 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 400 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 412 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, oranother suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 412may include one or more buses 412, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosurecontemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

Herein, reference to a computer-readable storage medium encompasses oneor more non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage mediapossessing structure. As an example and not by way of limitation, acomputer-readable storage medium may include a semiconductor-based orother integrated circuit (IC) (such, as for example, afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific IC(ASIC)), a hard disk, an HDD, a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an opticaldisc, an optical disc drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disc, amagneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppy disk drive (FDD),magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, a solid-state drive (SSD),a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECURE DIGITAL drive, or anothersuitable computer-readable storage medium or a combination of two ormore of these, where appropriate. Herein, reference to acomputer-readable storage medium excludes any medium that is noteligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. §101. Herein, referenceto a computer-readable storage medium excludes transitory forms ofsignal transmission (such as a propagating electrical or electromagneticsignal per se) to the extent that they are not eligible for patentprotection under 35 U.S.C. §101. A computer-readable non-transitorystorage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination ofvolatile and non-volatile, where appropriate. The present disclosureencompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, andmodifications to the example embodiments herein that a person havingordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly, whereappropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsherein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: by a server, receiving anidentification of one or more objects or references to the objectsembedded in a structured document displayed on a client computing deviceto a first user, wherein: the structured document is a markup-languagedocument displayed as a webpage; and the objects originate from one ormore sources external to a social-networking system; by the server,accessing a social graph of the social-networking system to: determineif one or more second users having an association with the first userhave accessed or are accessing any of the identified objects; andretrieve, from the social-networking system, one or more social-networkdata elements comprising social-network profile information provided byone or more of the second users to the social-networking system; and bythe server, sending to the client computing device one or moreinstructions to modify, for at least one of the objects, the structureddocument displayed as a webpage to the first user to indicate that theobject embedded in the structured document and originating from thesources external to the social-networking system has been accessed or isbeing accessed by one or more of the second users, wherein modifying thestructured document comprises displaying, proximal to the object, one ormore of the social-network data elements.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein accessing the social graph to determine if the second users haveaccessed or are accessing any of the identified objects is conditionedon a set of user preferences of the first user of the social-networkingsystem.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the structureddocument comprises one or more of highlighting, coloring, or bolding oneor more of the objects.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:responsive to one or more detected interactions by the first user withone or more of the objects or references in the structured document,receiving data indicating one or more edge relationships from theobjects or references to the first user; and sending the data indicatingthe edge relationships to the social-networking system.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein one or more of the social-network data elementsdisplayed proximal to the object comprise data indicating an edgerelationship from one or more of the identified objects to one or moreof the second users.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying thestructured document comprises modifying, by a web browser executing onthe client device, a representation of the structured document.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: by the server, accessing thesocial graph of the social-networking system to retrieve, from thesocial-networking system, one or more sets of aggregate interactionstatistics; and by the server, sending to the client computing deviceone or more instructions to display, proximal to the object, one or moreof the sets of aggregate interaction statistics.
 8. A system comprising:one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the processorscomprising instructions executable by the processors, the processorsbeing operable when executing the instructions to: by a server,receiving an identification of one or more objects or references to theobjects embedded in a structured document displayed on a client deviceto a first user, wherein: the structured document is a markup-languagedocument displayed as a webpage; and the objects originate from one ormore sources external to a social-networking system; by the server,access a social graph of the social-networking system to: determine ifone or more second users having an association with the first user haveaccessed or are accessing any of the identified objects; and retrieve,from the social-networking system, one or more social-network dataelements comprising social-network profile information provided by oneor more of the second users to the social-networking system; and by theserver, send to the client device one or more instructions to modify,for at least one of the objects, the structured document displayed as awebpage to the first user to indicate that the object embedded in thestructured document and originating from the sources external to thesocial-networking system has been accessed or is being accessed by oneor more of the second users, wherein modifying the structured documentcomprises displaying, proximal to the object, one or more of thesocial-network data elements.
 9. The system of claim 8, whereinaccessing the social graph to determine if the second users haveaccessed or are accessing any of the identified objects is conditionedon a set of user preferences of the first user of the social-networkingsystem.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein modifying the structureddocument comprises one or more of highlighting, coloring, or bolding oneor more of the objects.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein theprocessors are further operable when executing the instructions to:responsive to one or more detected interactions by the first user withone or more of the objects or references in the structured document,receive data indicating one or more edge relationships from the one ormore objects or references to the first user; and send the dataindicating the edge relationships to the social-networking system. 12.The system of claim 8, wherein one or more of the social-network dataelements displayed proximal to the object comprise data indicating anedge relationship from one or more of the identified objects to one ormore of the second users.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein modifyingthe structured document comprises modifying, by a web browser executingon the client device, a representation of the structured document. 14.The system of claim 8, wherein the processors are further operable whenexecuting the instructions to: access the social graph of thesocial-networking system to retrieve, from the social-networking system,one or more sets of aggregate interaction statistics; and send to theclient device one or more instructions to display, proximal to theobject, one or more of the sets of aggregate interaction statistics. 15.One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodyingsoftware that is operable when executed to: by a server, receive anidentification of one or more objects or references to the one or moreobjects embedded in a structured document displayed on a client deviceto a first user, wherein: the structured document is a markup-languagedocument displayed as a webpage; and the objects originate from one ormore sources external to a social-networking system; by the server,access a social graph of the social-networking system to: determine ifone or more second users having an association with the first user haveaccessed or are accessing any of the identified objects; and retrieve,from the social-networking system, one or more social-network dataelements comprising social-network profile information provided by oneor more of the second users to the social-networking system; and by theserver, sending to the client device one or more instructions to modify,for at least one of the objects, the structured document displayed as awebpage to the first user to indicate that the object embedded in thestructured document and originating from the sources external to thesocial-networking system has been accessed or is being accessed by oneor more of the second users, wherein modifying the structured documentcomprises displaying, proximal to the object, one or more of thesocial-networking data elements.
 16. The media of claim 15, whereinaccessing the social graph to determine if the second users haveaccessed or are being accessed any of the identified objects isconditioned on a set of user preferences of the first user of thesocial-networking system.
 17. The media of claim 15, wherein modifyingthe structured document comprises one or more of highlighting, coloring,or bolding one or more of the objects.
 18. The media of claim 15,wherein the software is further operable when executed to: responsive toone or more detected interactions by the first user with one or more ofthe objects or references in the structured document, receive dataindicating one or more edge relationships from the objects or referencesto the first user; and send the data indicating the edge relationship tothe social-networking system.
 19. The media of claim 15, wherein one ormore of the social-network data elements displayed proximal to theobject comprise data indicating an edge relationship from one or more ofthe identified objects to one or more of the second users.
 20. The mediaof claim 15, wherein the software is further operable when executed to:access the social graph of the social-networking system to retrieve,from the social-networking system, one or more sets of aggregateinteraction statistics; and send to the client device one or moreinstructions to display, proximal to the object, one or more of the setsof aggregate interaction statistics.